Hiding away from a disastrous past, Megan McLeod is getting along nicely in her job as housekeeper at a university field centre in Majorca. But the arrival of geological researcher, Tim Stone, throws everything into disarray — because Tim was the father of the baby she lost some years before and the two of them had parted very messily indeed.

As if having Tim on the scene wasn’t bad enough, he's there with his new partner, Holly. But when in the course of his research he comes upon something extremely nasty along the cliffs of north Majorca, he’s forced to turn to Megan for help.

Excerpt

Chaos. That’s what he brought.

Disorder; now there’s something I can handle. Disorder is fine, but when that extra element, that secret from your past, creeps in like a snake under an ill-fitting door, disorder turns to chaos.
And chaos is a whole lot different.

It was changeover day at the field centre where Domenica, Catalina and I faced the task of preparing to greet thirty second-year geologists. With their end-of-year-exams behind them, the students would theoretically be out for a week’s fieldwork but all of them were bound to view this trip to Majorca as an opportunity to let their hair down. In the eighteen months I’d been at the centre, I’d learned enough to know that none of them would intend spending too much time peering at layers of rock.

Fortunately for the local population, the field centre was based well out of town. These youngsters wouldn’t be the first to discover that if they did go down into Puerto Pollensa of an evening, they’d have to stay sober enough to struggle back for a mile or so along a rough track in the dark. Domenica had worked out the solution to that one several geology groups ago, and had laid in a stack of bottles of San Miguel and a couple of cases of rough local wine.

Because I was the one who lived in, I ran the informal bar and cleared up after them; but I liked it. Generally speaking, the students were pretty sensible once they’d got over the excitement of a subsidised holiday, sunning themselves and pretending it was work. But for us — the staff comprised me, Domenica, and Domenica’s daughter, Catalina — the days of their coming and their going meant hard grind.

‘What time are they due?’ I called, catching Domenica as she bustled up the stairs with an armful of sheets.

‘Four o’clock. Catalina, how are you getting on?’

‘Nearly finished upstairs!’ Cat always sounded frantic, her work always nearly finished but never quite complete, because every time she was nearly finished some other job ambushed her and held her back.

‘They’ll want something to eat when they get here. Megan, can you arrange that?’

‘Will tea and biscuits do?’ Four o’clock was an awkward time to arrive. ‘That should keep them going until supper, and we can always do that a bit early if they look like fainting with hunger.’

‘That sounds a good plan. Though actually, forget their tea and biscuits just now.’ A snatched glance at the clock told us that we had a good hour. ‘What about ours?’

‘I’ll make some.’

‘We’ll have it in the office. I want to run through my list.’

I abandoned what I was doing and went into the kitchen, mentally ticking things off on a list of my own. Dinner was under control. The wherewithal for breakfast was in the cupboard (I checked, for the umpteenth time, while I waited for the kettle). I’d intended to make cake but had somehow run out of time. Never mind — there was bought cake in the cupboard; they could have home-made another day. Biscuits would do in the interim, for the students, for Domenica, for Catalina, and for me.

First into the office, I slid with a deep sigh into one of the three worn seats. This room, facing south-west and with big picture windows, was a positive hothouse compared to the rest of the place. An old farm building which had been increasingly and eccentrically extended over the two centuries of its existence, the centre had tiny shuttered windows and thick walls. It never grew hot, even in the height of the Majorcan summer when the temperature, as today, regularly scaled well into the nineties.

Domenica came in next, untying her apron and tossing it over the back of her chair as she moved from cleaning to admin, and settled at her desk. ‘Catalina!’

‘Just coming!’ came the faint cry from somewhere above us.

‘That girl!’ Domenica beamed, knowing as I did that Cat, for all her tardiness, was thorough and efficient. ‘I do hope that coffee’s extra strong. I think we’re going to need it.’

‘We could do with some more help.’ I rubbed some polish from my fingers. ‘Even just for a few hours at changeover.’

‘I keep wondering about that, but there just isn’t the money in the budget.’

‘I expect we’ll cope.’

‘It isn’t usually this bad. Thirty, plus the lecturers.’ She ticked a number off at random on her fingers. ‘That’s a lot. That’s just about capacity.’

In the summer months, when the universities were on holiday, we hosted other parties. Languages and art were popular themes; the groups tending to be smaller and the participants older. They included people who found themselves newly single and looking for a fresh interest. They were easier to get on with than the university students; they were quieter and less self-absorbed, people who were interested in everything and wanted to chat. The groups of geologists — boisterous and enthusiastic — steamrollered everyone and everything before them, and only sometimes remembered to be penitent afterwards. Nevertheless, I liked them. It wasn’t that long ago that I had been a student myself.

My university career had imploded spectacularly before I was halfway through my second year. That was how I’d ended up keeping house out on the edge of nowhere, with a job instead of a career. It was a bitter lesson, and one I’d learned well — that it only takes a moment’s misjudgement for your life to derail. When it does, the best you can hope for is that when everything falls apart, you’re happy to stay where you fall. And if I wouldn’t say I was happy in Majorca, I couldn’t in all honesty say I was unhappy either.

‘Catalina!’

Top Reviews

Romantic suspense
No Time Like Now is a credibly suspenseful story . . . Good story and great sense of place. ~ Marjorette, Amazon

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highly-charged
In her latest novel, No Time Like Now, Jennifer Young takes us on a highly-charged, emotional journey in her tale of intrigue, crime, and passion. ~ Janet M. Cameron, Amazon

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Blast from the past
No Time Like Now is a well-written, full-length novel that focuses on the plot, on the romance . . . It brought more than one tear to my eyes and I enjoy a book that can affect me emotionally. I also enjoyed the science . . . If you’re a fan of contemporary romance based on a good plot and not on sensationalist love scenes, then this is the story for you. Well done Jennifer! ~ Bea LaRocca, Amazon

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refreshing change
No Time Like Now was a refreshing change up in my " to be read" pile, a step away from,cookie cutter romances and boy meets girl. I like things messy! The messier, emotionally driven and inner turmoil ridden the better....and Jennifer Young delivered . . . I am definitely looking forward to more works by Jennifer Young and of course will be one-clicking those currently available. I like a good intrigue! ~ Coast 2 Coast Book Besties, Amazon

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With a natural novelist’s skill, Jennifer Young manages to tie up all those loose ends, leaving the reader with a satisfying resolution and the assurance that, yes, it is possible to move on, and that, while a traumatic past is not something that is easy to ignore, it can be overcome, put firmly in its place, and prevented from overwhelming the joys of the present and the hope for a bright future . . . As in all the best novels, love and hope finally triumph over adversity. Every woman will want to identify with Jennifer Young’s feisty heroine, Megan! ~ Janet Cameron, Decoded Arts and Amazon

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No Time Like Now, Jennifer Young takes us on a highly-charged
In her latest novel, No Time Like Now, Jennifer Young takes us on a highly-charged, emotional journey in her tale of intrigue, crime, and passion. ~ Janet M. Cameron, Amazon

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No Time Like Now is an exciting romantic suspense set on the romantic island of Majorca on the eastern side of the Spanish continent. No better location for such a story as this. Two former lovers thrown together on a romantic island, with him in need and her the only one to help. It's the perfect recipe for adventure, and trouble. Jennifer uses her wonderful author voice to tell this emotionally charged tale with expertise. Readers will quickly come to like Megan and Tim and want to see what happens next. Jennifer sets the story well with wonderful imagery. If you're looking for a warming read, in more ways than one, there's no time like now to dip your toes into this Majorcan romantic suspense. ~ Heart of Fiction